Friday, June 6, 2014

Last week I was asked to make a birthday pie for a friend. She gave me several choices for him but said Dutch apple was his favorite. Okay, that works for me. Pie is much easier to make for birthdays than cake and Dutch apple is really easy because I don't have to roll a flaky crust!

So, since I am making one for them why not make one for my husband? He didn't mind a bit.

His words regarding the crust, "I normally think of crust as something that just holds the pie together but this crust was an explosion of yummy goodness!"

That being considered I am going to try a couple of other pies with this crust and see what happens. Pumpkin, peach, blueberry...yeah...soon...

Speaking of soon, his retirement is just weeks away! It has been a LONG stressful road but we made it. We picked up his orders on Tuesday and on June 30, 2014 he gets his DD214 and signs out on terminal leave. July 27 he is officially retired from the Army.

Okay, on with the pie. Dutch apple pie as the name implies comes from the Dutch. Here we have Americanized it by taking out the raisins.

One more thing. Golden delicious apples were not a good choice for these pies. They had an odd texture like they had been dehydrated at one time. That would have been fine if I were actually using dehydrated apples but I wanted soft pieces. I don't care for the overly tart Granny Smith so I'll try some other type of apple next time until I find the right texture.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and butter; set aside 1 cup for topping.

Press remaining crumb mixture into an ungreased 10-in. pie plate. Place the entire mix in the pie plate, then start pressing the sides first working your way around. After the sides are covered well press the remaining crumb into the bottom. Set aside.

In a large saucepan; combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and water (Water doesn't have to be ice cold but at least cold tap. Warm water will cause starch to lump.) until smooth; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minutes or until thickened.

Remove from the heat; stir in apples and vanilla.

Pour into crust;

Evenly top with reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm with ice cream or cold with whipped cream. (I think warm is the best and plain is great too!)